


It's Not Hate

by B_Uthoughtwrong



Series: The Things I Hate About You [13]
Category: Harry - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Reader-Insert, and there's a preschool at hogwarts dammit, everyone's a professor at hogwarts now, hahah, preschool teacher!reader, the students gossip about draco x reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:21:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24300508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/B_Uthoughtwrong/pseuds/B_Uthoughtwrong
Summary: A drabble-y take on the thirteen line, but actually ninth hated thing, of the poem in the film 10 Things I Hate About You."I hate it when you're not around"~Draco is crushing hard and does something stupid
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Reader
Series: The Things I Hate About You [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/717732
Kudos: 38





	It's Not Hate

_I hate it when you're not around_

* * *

I eye the man who made his way into my classroom. I huff and turn to my toddlers, “kids, what do we say to a Professor Malfoy?”

“GOOD MOR-NING PRO-FES-SOR MAL-FOY!” the kids stood up, wording each syllable carefully and loudly. The greeted blonde man turned to the children and waved at them, “yes, good morning children.”

I watch as Draco walks over, avoiding the toys on the carpeted floor as well as the ones magically floating around.

“I suppose this must be _important_ ,” I stress my final word, raising a brow at him.

Draco raises his brows and hums almost questioningly. I scowl at him and cross my arms, “quickly.”

He shakes his head, getting out of a trance he put himself in. He chuckles nervously, “Oh, right.” He gulps, “I volunteered to help you with lunch.”

I nod once, “alright, and?”

His face falters. He clenches his jaw. Again, he clears his throat, “and I thought… we could sit together afterwards.”

I narrow my eyes at his words and pull my head back, “That’s it?”

“…”

“You interrupted my class to ask me to sit next to you?”

His prolonged silence is all I need as an answer. I huff and nod furiously, “enough then. Please leave me be.” I push him off and catch sight of my most naughty student, “Zachary! What did we say conjuring sweeties?”

The boy looks around and pipes up softly, “… not to do it.”

At this point, I had shoved Draco out of the room with a satisfied huff, “good day, Professor Draco.”

With teeth grinding in regret, Draco storms down the halls, nodding at the students that greeted him.

He then bangs at a classroom door and shuffles on his feet full of anxiety. A few moments later, Ron comes out and squints tightly at him, “Malfoy?”

“I did what you said but what happened was nothing like you said would.”

Ron knits his brows deeply and shakes his head, trying to understand what he was saying. “What? What in the world are you talking about?”

In frustration, Draco blurts out a name a little too loud; louder than he should’ve, if he really still wanted to keep his crush under wraps. Ron is suddenly mortified.

Due to their hushed voices, spiking up so suddenly, the kids in class tried to get a bearing of what they were arguing about. One of the bolder kids piped up, “Professor Weasley, what’s going on?”

The kids all knew what it was about though, and Ron knew it. He turned over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes at the constantly suspicious kid and huffed, “absolutely nothing.” The red head then steps out and closes the door, ready to turn the blonde into a rock, cause apparently his brain was one.

“I DIDN’T TELL YOU TO INTERRUPT HER CLASS!” Ron whisper-yelled at the top of his lungs.

Draco hissed, “well I DID, AND NOW I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO.”

“NOW YOU’RE INTERRUPTING MY CLASS!”

“Well it was YOUR idea in the first place!”

“No!” Ron snaps, “the idea was to tell her _during_ lunch time!”

“Well you hadn’t made that clear, had you?!”

“Bloody hell,” Ron huffed, placing a hand on his hip, “Harry will—” “DON’T YOU DARE TELL POTTER!”

He shrugs, “I’m sure he’ll know anyway! She would’ve told Hermione and Hermione would’ve told either me or Harry.”

Draco blinks and wonders what his chances of stealthily erasing her memories would be. Ron knows his look and chastises, “oh bugger off, you can’t wipe her memory!”

The blonde opens his mouth and shuts it. Ron sighs, “look, just-just… wait ‘til lunch and do as you said you would.”

Later that day, I was in the dining area, the separate one, child-proofed for all the preschoolers. As usual, I helping some toddlers eat their food, pointing at their sippy cups and scolding then when they played with their food. We had an earlier lunch than the rest of the school meant the kids would be able to have nap time after, and we would be able to eat lunch with everyone else.

I made my rounds with the other teachers, for the little children or otherwise volunteers, and scanned the room.

I helped one of the kids with their utensils and smiled back when they turned to me in glee. I looked to the entrance and sighed, going around the area again.

For every time the door opened, I would turn in expectation and sigh in disappointment.

“You know,” a voice makes me slightly jump and turn, “the more expectant you look, the more inclined people are to believe you’re waiting for someone.”

I narrow my eyes at Hermione, “The kiddies don’t care.”

“Mmm, but the _proffies_ do.” The red-haired lady walks side by side with me as we assess the room.

For a moment, I feel my face burn. I move in close and whisper, “do they really?”

She chuckles, “I’m sure even the kids know professor Draco has a **big** crush on you.”

I mentally curse.

“And why you push him away so much when you clearly like him back is mysteriously stupid to me,” she looks my way then corrects herself, “or just plain stupid.”

I purse my lips, “thanks.”

“Really. I don’t know why you do it, but Malfoy is a good man—annoyingly evil when we were kids, but he’s done more than enough to redeem himself.”

I find myself chewing on my bottom lip, “Honestly, I don’t know why either.”

“It’s solved then,” Hermione sighs, _“it’s ignorance.”_

I shoot her a look as she turns away and gasps, “Malfoy!”

I panic and turn to where she was looking. I shove her when I realize she was bluffing.

Draco reels back upon seeing what he did at the end of the hallway. It was as if he forgot teleportation was a thing.

“Hello,” I say simply, standing in front of the flabbergasted man. He stutters and clears his throat. I continue, “the dining hall is that way.” I point.

Draco gulps and straightens his back , “of course I know.” He mutters under his breath, “I went to school here for goodness sake.”

With the sight his tight expression and tense shoulders, I knit my brows in apprehension, “you… didn’t come to help me, even though you said you would.”

Draco snaps at me and as quickly blurts, “I was suddenly busy.”

I pull back at his tone. I feel my throat tighten at it, “so you disregarded your word to me?”

“I…” he trails off, “it’s not like I _promised_ to do it.”

“So… you were just toying with me?”

Draco’s eyes widen, “w-what? I wasn’t.”

I clench my jaw and scoff, “and yet you were avoiding me.” I clench my fists, “I guess you’d rather eat alone then.” I push past him, and he freezes.

I turn to my feet as I walk away. I groan and mutter under my breath. “Of course, this would end badly. When have my emotions do me good anyway?”

My head collide with a surface. I jolt back and look up to see Draco heaving. I step back and blink. He raises a finger and opens his mouth, “I…”

I find my mouth go dry at his hard gaze.

“Every time there is a gathering, I cannot stop looking until I see you. And when you’re not around, I feel like it’s my fault, because I scare you away.”

I knit my brows at him, “you don’t scare me away.”

“But I overwhelm you, don’t I?” he whispers, making me release a breath. He raises a brow. I avert my eyes, “… perhaps a little.”

He ruffles his hands through his hair, “then perhaps I should stop.”

I look at him in concern.

“It is not my intention to stress you.”

“Professor Malfoy,” I shake my head, “I think you got me all wrong.”

For a moment, he examines my face. His knit brows deepen and his lips purse. I dare to bring my nose near his to his and close my eyes. There is a thick silence between us. Part of me wonders if my actions were going to lead to my embarrassment. But when his lips press against mine, and his arms wrap around back, I melt against him and succumb to warmth.

But the loud cheers around us make me squeak and collide against Draco in an unsavory manner.

We pull away like guilty kids caught in the act of stealing sweets. Both him and I shuffle awkwardly. I turn to him when he hisses and found that he was rubbing his lips with his finger.

“Right, all of you off to the dining hall!” a loud voice barks out, and soon a plethora of kids whisper, giggle, and scurry off down the hall, looking at us with cheeky grins.

My face is blazing red now, I barely even manage to speak to Draco, “I… sorry I bit you.”

He turn to reply, but the loud scolding that comes mortifies me. The Weasleys are looking at us in mix of amusement and disappointment. Ron blurts, “have you gone absolutely mad man? Snogging in the hallway.”

I make a face and shake my head, seeing Hermione behind her husband, “we weren’t snogging!”

“Well, that’s what the kids were saying,” Harry erupts behind me. I turn to him and whine, running away from the confrontation.

Draco watches as I run. Harry holds him back before he could follow, “and here I was told you were helpless.”

Ron rolls his eyes, “he is.”

“His lip is bleeding, Ron,” Harry narrows his eyes at his best friend. Malfoy defends, “it's not purposeful. The kids started screaming, and she’s as jittery as a cat.”

Hermione huffs, “you best wipe that off, or else there will be an uproar of gossip amongst the students.”

“I can see it now,” Harry offers, “professors bite each other’s lips off in the hallway.”

Each of them make their own sounds of disgust and amusement.


End file.
